Culex (Culex) andersoni Edwards

Harbach, Ralph E. & Wilkerson, Richard C., 2023, The insupportable validity of mosquito subspecies (Diptera: Culicidae) and their exclusion from culicid classification, Zootaxa 5303 (1), pp. 1-184 : 82

publication ID

https://doi.org/ 10.11646/zootaxa.5303.1.1

publication LSID

lsid:zoobank.org:pub:DE9C1F18-5CEE-4968-9991-075B977966FE

DOI

https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.8064225

persistent identifier

https://treatment.plazi.org/id/161B87CD-BA62-0A06-FF54-FB29FC685DE4

treatment provided by

Plazi

scientific name

Culex (Culex) andersoni Edwards
status

 

Culex (Culex) andersoni Edwards View in CoL View at ENA

subspecies abyssinicus Edwards, 1941 View in CoL —original combination: Culex (Culex) andersoni ssp. abyssinicus . Distribution: Ethiopia ( Edwards 1941).

subspecies andersoni Edwards, 1914 View in CoL —original combination: Culex andersoni View in CoL . Distribution: Comoros, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Eritrea, Kenya, Malawi, Republic of South Africa, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda ( Wilkerson et al. 2021).

subspecies bwambanus Edwards, 1941 —original combination: Culex (Culex) andersoni ssp. bwambanus . Distribution: Lesotho, Republic of South Africa, Uganda ( Wilkerson et al. 2021).

Edwards (1914) described Culex andersoni from specimens collected at Kabete, located outside the borders of Nairobi in the Central Province of Kenya, based principally on features of the male habitus and male genitalia.

Subspecies abyssinicus is only known from Ethiopia, and according to Edwards (1941) the adult is ornamented differently than the typical form but the male genitalia are essentially the same. Because the treatment of the genitalia is rather superficial, it is likely that some differences might be evident upon closer examination. Based on differences in ornamentation and allopatry, abyssinicus is hereby considered a separate species: Culex (Culex) abyssinicus Edwards, 1941 . This species should be added to the species of Culex listed in the Encyclopedia of Life.

Subspecies bwambanus and the nominotypical form are both reported from Uganda, and Edward (1941) indicated that they both occur in the Ruwenzori Mountains. However, Edwards described bwambanus from a Ruwenzori location while recognizing the presence of the typical form elsewhere in the same mountains. Although the Ruwenzori Mountains appear to be the only place where the two forms may be in sympatry, Edwards described bwambanus as a new subspecies because of differences in the pale scaling of the hindfemur of the adults, and nearly “hairless” maxillary palpi (“may be rubbed in the type ”), gonocoxite with a more prominent subapical lobe and a narrower gonostylus in the male. Since the available evidence indicates that bwambanus is morphological distinct in the absence of clinal variation, it is hereby afforded species status: Culex (Culex) bwambanus Edwards, 1941 . Culex bwambanus is currently listed as a species in the Encyclopedia of Life.

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Arthropoda

Class

Insecta

Order

Diptera

Family

Culicidae

Genus

Culex

Loc

Culex (Culex) andersoni Edwards

Harbach, Ralph E. & Wilkerson, Richard C. 2023
2023
Loc

abyssinicus

Edwards 1941
1941
Loc

Culex (Culex) andersoni ssp. abyssinicus

Edwards 1941
1941
Loc

bwambanus

Edwards 1941
1941
Loc

Culex (Culex) andersoni ssp. bwambanus

Edwards 1941
1941
Loc

andersoni

Edwards 1914
1914
Loc

Culex andersoni

Edwards 1914
1914
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